The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#284 Mercenary Owen (12) - Things That Come in the Night Originally, horsemanship is quite a dangerous sport. The moment you slip and fall from a horse, breaking one of your limbs would be considered relatively fortunate. It's not uncommon to fall in a bad spot and break your neck directly, or hit your back wrong and become paralyzed. Needless to say, the danger of riding on a rough, wild path in the middle of the night, not on a well-maintained road, is immense. Therefore, the first thing Ophelia did when she began her escape was to hand over control of the horsemanship to the horse. A horse's night vision is much better than a human's. In a situation where she could barely see ahead, it was much safer for Ophelia to roughly set the direction and let the horse run as it wanted while she clung tightly to its back, rather than forcibly holding the reins and trying to control it in detail. 'I'm really doing all kinds of things in my life.' The sight of her riding half-sprawled on the horse looked quite precarious to onlookers, but contrary to that appearance, Ophelia's heart was quite at ease. At least enough to be able to worry about political ramifications or the opponent's motives rather than the fear of death while being chased by the knight order. 'It's definitely Tachanka Kingdom that's been scheming in this land. Their quick response time shows it, and the fact that they try force first also shows it.' There's no need to deeply ponder why they did such a thing. It's obvious they did it because they needed power. It's not because Tachanka Kingdom is particularly violent or a nation awakened to waves of murderous intent. All dozen or so nations around here simply have the "I need more power!" skill equipped as standard. They have no choice, as to their west lies the Eizern Empire, and to their east lies the Cardian Republic. A hegemon of history and tradition. These days they're well-fed and docile, but in the past, Eizern was the top thug among thugs who would throw punches first if things went wrong. The modern war god Cardian, who cut off the heads of kings and nobles simultaneously with their founding, and when terrified neighboring countries sent armies, beat them all to a pulp. No wonder other nations called the Tachanka Kingdom and its neighbors by names mixed with ridicule and pity, like the Blade Wind Gorge. 'Weaponization of spirits... If successful, they could gain terrifying power.' It wasn't obvious because Owen thrashed them daily, but the power of spirits was actually quite formidable. Even ordinary spirits without individual names can display power around 4th to 5th rank if the surrounding environment supports them, and special beings like the Ancient Spirits that the Hydrain Family originally contracted with are basically close to 6th Rank. And the number of spirits in this Land of Silence is dozens at a glance. If they could get their hands on all of these, that power would truly be at a terrifying level. "Stop right there, you bastards!!" As befitting a major national-level project, fairly important personnel had been dispatched, and the Black Leopard Knights' equestrian skills and horse quality were quite excellent. In comparison, what Owen and Ophelia were riding were ordinary horses obtained for travel in some random city. The distance initially created by the smoke screen tactic gradually narrowed, until the distance between both sides had closed enough that their shouts could be heard. When Ophelia, clinging to the horse's back, glanced back to see the pursuers' faces, their faces held a slight euphoria as if they had already caught them. So Ophelia shouted toward Owen. "Are we still far away!?" "No, we're almost there!" With those words, Owen threw something forcefully from atop his horse. The moment a pebble roughly the size of a thumb touched the ground, thump! A heavy sound unfitting for its mass echoed out. Thinking one wasn't enough, Owen continued throwing pebbles after that. Each time at different spots. Each time making equally loud noises. Finally realizing Owen's aim, the face of Vice Commander Garban of the Black Leopard Knights at the head of the pursuers hardened stiffly. He urgently tried to give some order to his subordinates, but before that, the darkness of night disappeared. Whoooosh! A fireball large enough to brightly illuminate the surroundings in an instant flew toward the direction where Owen and Ophelia were. Ophelia couldn't understand what principle it could possibly be, but Owen deflected the fireball with his spear as if it were natural, and the deflected fireball exploded right in front of the Black Leopard Knights following from behind. Boooooom! Small screams were buried and disappeared in the explosion sound. The knights each reinforced their bodies with mana or enhanced their armor with mana to save their lives, but what greeted such knights was a baptism of attacks from other spirits. High-pressure water cut through all sorts of things, air that suddenly disappeared blocked breathing, and solid earth turned to sand, robbing them of mobility. It was the moment when the strategy of entering an area where stake removal wasn't finished, luring rampaging spirits, and making them clash with the knight order was working brilliantly. The Black Leopard Knights, realizing the situation had gone wrong, belatedly tried to escape this area, but the spirits that had once found their target persistently clung to them and wouldn't let go. Anyone watching might call the Black Leopard Knights stupid for jumping into a danger zone they created without countermeasures and getting beaten, but honestly the Black Leopard Knights felt rather wronged. They too had considered the possibility of being attacked by spirits. But with their strength, they could subdue one spirit without too much damage, and most importantly, when spirit attacks occurred, the first to be attacked would be the two people in front, not them. Their plan was that when the two people's movement slowed after being attacked by spirits, they would capture them and then deal with the remaining spirits. However, Owen mockingly summoned all the spirits in this area at once, and even deflected attacks aimed at himself as if it were nothing. Their hearts were like chimneys wanting to shout that it wasn't because they let their guard down but because that guy was abnormal, but unfortunately there was no time to voice such complaints. If they didn't swing their swords even once more in that time, they would be massacred by the spirits that had swarmed in. Leaving the Black Leopard Knights continuing their desperate battle behind, Ophelia raised her voice and asked. "But what if the spirits could distinguish friend from foe?" "In that case, well, we'd just have to run at full speed!" "Isn't that too reckless?" "In the mercenary business, as long as you're still breathing, you can always look forward to the next opportunity!" Anyway, he wouldn't be so annoying if he couldn't talk. Grumbling inwardly, Ophelia briefly pondered the schedule after this. First, it would be impossible to continue exploration as they had been doing so far. News that the Black Leopard Knights suffered greatly would soon spread to Tachanka Kingdom as well. New forces would soon be dispatched, and they would never stand by and watch the two of them tear through this place. Small nation or not, if a country seriously decided to pursue them relentlessly, no matter how strong Owen was, he couldn't win while protecting Ophelia. That means, in other words. "The time until they send new forces is our last exploration opportunity." "...Could you stop butting in like you're reading my thoughts? That's a really bad habit, you know?" "Originally mercenaries having bad habits is the norm." That's probably not what she meant. Ophelia glared at Owen, but as always, he lightly brushed it off. "Hah. Anyway, we need to quickly find our target." "Oh, we explored for two days straight and couldn't even sleep, is it okay to continue the forced march?" "Wasn't that the intention when you lured the knight order anyway? The fact that spirits are now rampaging against the knight order over there means the areas they were originally guarding are now empty." In other words, it meant an environment perfect for breaking and entering. "Still, it won't be easy. It's the middle of the night so visibility is naturally poor, and more than anything, I'm not particularly good at mana detection either." He could notice if there were stakes within visible range, but otherwise finding them would be difficult. "It's fine. I'll detect them." At Ophelia's cool declaration, Owen widened his eyes with an "Oh?" "Can you do it?" "It's not 'can you do it', but that I have to do it." Ophelia answered in a determined voice, then closed her eyes. While Owen was enthusiastically going out hunting, it's not like Ophelia had been idling around either. Though it might seem trivial and insignificant compared to that mercenary's superhuman abilities, she had been continuously striving to find what she could do in her own way. Of course, just as there would be no need for worries in the world if effort alone solved everything, Ophelia too had not achieved satisfactory results so far... but given the current situation, she would fill the shortfall with fighting spirit, mental strength, and reverence for Lady Kuella. "Keep it up, miss. I'll make sure nothing attacking from around us can lay a finger on you." ...Well, she decided to accept this man's encouragement as well while she was at it. Desperately suppressing the corners of her mouth that wanted to twitch at his leisurely and cheeky yet somewhat reassuring voice despite the urgent situation, Ophelia closed her eyes and concentrated on mana detection. Her body was full of fatigue from repeated all-nighters, but conversely her mind became extremely sharp and her concentration kept rising. The sound of hooves kicking the ground, the sound of wind brushing past her ears, the sound of Owen deflecting attacks flying in from somewhere. All sorts of other external stimuli gradually disappeared from her mind, until they could no longer be felt. "Found it." The presence of the stakes disrupting this land could be felt clearly. "Over there!" "Good, let's hurry!" After that it went smoothly. They found and removed stakes in areas that had become vulnerable because spirits had left their posts, and if there were any spirits still guarding their positions, they smashed them with surprise attacks in the initial battle. How many times did they repeat that work? "...This is the last one." Crack! Owen's spear destroyed the final stake. They had eliminated all the culprits that had been making the spirits rampage, but Ophelia's voice wasn't very bright. And no wonder. "In the end, even though we stirred up every piece of land, the spirit we were looking for didn't appear." Ophelia let out a deep sigh with a "Whew." Actually, this possibility wasn't completely absent. While it's true that lands untouched by human hands and with little influence from civilization are easier for spirits to inhabit, that doesn't mean there must be powerful entities there. As if to comfort the dejected Ophelia, Owen said. "Don't be too discouraged. We've eliminated what was making the spirits violent, so contracts with ordinary spirits should be possible, right? That alone is a great achievement." Owen's words weren't wrong. Even spirits that hadn't become unique entities were still very powerful and useful forces. It's just that the results felt somewhat disappointing compared to all the hardship. Still, she couldn't stay dejected forever, so Ophelia finally nodded. No, she tried to nod. 'Huh?' Her body suddenly swayed, and her vision spun around. Owen's urgent shouts felt distantly far away. An overwhelming and intense drowsiness that forcibly suppressed the effects of the Awakening Pill. Her reason, knowing that sleep in the Land of Silence meant death, screamed for her to come to her senses, but there was nothing she could do about her eyelids closing on their own. Before her eyes completely closed. It seemed like she glimpsed something like butterfly wings.